Garment form retainer



Nov. 19, 1968 F. Y. SHER'BONDY 3, 1 1

GARMENT FORM RETAINER Filed Aug. 28, 1967 88 v INVENTOR,

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,411,678 GARMENT FORM RETAINER Frank Y. Sherbondy, P.0. Box 10236, San Antonio, Tex. 78210 Filed Aug. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 663,662 9 Claims. (Cl. 223-71) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A form retainer for interconnecting the overlapping front panels of coat type garments which includes a tab portion insertable through a buttonhole in one front panel of the garment and a button retaining means for engaging a button on the other front panel thereof. The button retaining means is formed by a pair of closely spaced slit lines which set off between them a web which extends across the forward face of the button while the side edges of the button project through the slit lines.

This invention relates to garment form retainers and more particularly relates to a device for interconnecting the over-lapping front panels of a coat type garment.

In general, the present invention may be regarded as an improvement on the garment form retainers disclosed in my prior United States patent, Nos. 2,641,390; 2,975,- 948; 3,091,376; 3,143,260; and, 3,283,969. As disclosed in all of the aforementioned patents, garment form retaining devices of this type are adapted to hold the front panels of a coat type garment in a position where the panels are in overlapping relationship when the coat is placed upon a hanger. The purpose for such a retainer is to prevent the coat from sagging otherwise becoming deformed, and devices of this type are widely used by drycleaners, tailors and others who desire to maintain a coat type garment on a hanger in a neat and attractive appearance.

All garment form retainers basically comprise an elongated flat body for insertion between the overlapping front portions of the garment, with such body carrying thereon (a) a means in the form of a tab or the like for coupling the body with a buttonhole on one front portion of the garment, and (b) a means in the form of an opening for coupling the body with a button on the other front portion of the garment. While all of my aforementioned patents provide various types of devices which incorporate the two basic means mentioned hereinbefore, it is always desirable and beneficial to provide an improvement in such a device.

Basically, the improvement which can be made in such a general type of device is of three varieties. First, it is possible and desirable to improve the manufacturing technique by which such garment form retainers are made to thereby simplify the manufacturing steps, decrease the costs of manufacture and minimize the amount of waste material encountered. Secondly, it is desirable and beneficial to provide an improved type of retainer wherein attachment of the retainer to the button and buttonhole is simplified and expedited. Third, it is desirable and beneficial to provide a garment form retainer which stays firmly attached to the button and buttonhole, under all rough handling conditions, thereby assuring that the coat panels will be maintained in their proper overlapping relationship.

It is an objective of the present invention to provide an improved garment form retainer which accomplishes all three of the aforementioned characteristics.

Specifically, one object of the present invention is to provide a garment form retainer which can be inexpensively manufactured and produced and wherein the amount of waste material from production is kept to a minimum.

3,411,678 Patented Nov. 19, 1968 "ice Another object of the present invention is to provide a garment form retainer which can be quickly and easily attached to the button and buttonhole portions of a coat type garment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a garment form retainer which, one attached to a coat type garment, will remain attached thereto and will retain the front panels thereof in proper overlapping relationship, regardless of rough handling or the like.

Other objects, advantages and salient features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a garment having operatively positioned thereon, a garment form retainer in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of a garment form retainer in accordance with one modification of the present invention;

FIGURES 3-5 are fragmentary plan views of other modifications of the garment form retainer of the present invention;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of the garment form retainer attached in position upon a coat type garment;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of one modification of the garment form retainer of the present invention as attached to a coat type garment; and

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of another form of the grament form retainer of the present invention attached to a coat type garment.

For purpose of simplicity, let attention first be directed to FIGURE 2 hereof for a description of a garment forrn retainer in accordance with the principles of the present invention, such garment form retainer being generally designated 10. The retainer 10 is formed as a fiat elongated, generally rectangular, body 12 fabricated of a yieldable, relatively stiff, material, such as cardboard, flexible plastic, or other suitable similar material.

The central axis of the garment form retainer, which also comprises the longitudinal axis of the body 12 and the axis of elongation thereof, can be defined as 14. The boundaries of the body 12 can be defined by upper and lower edges 16 and 18, respectively and by opposed side edges 20 and 22.

A button hole retaining means generally designated 24 is provided adjacent one end of the body 12, near the edge 20. This buttonhole retaining means is in the form of a tab 26 integrally connected at its upper end with the body 12 along a hinge line 28 which may be scored, if desired, to facilitate swinging of the tab 26 away from the body 12 for insertion into a buttonhole. In the embodiment of FIGURE 2, the tab 26 is formed with a pair of parallel sides 30 and 32 which are interconnected at the lower end of the tab by means of a rounded lower end portion 34. The tab 26 is generally elongated across the width of the body 12 and an equal portion thereof extends above and below the longitudinal axis 14. A pair of oppositely directed hook portions 36 and 38 extend respectively outwardly and upwardly from the sides 30 and 32 of the tab. As can be seen from FIGURE 2, these hook portions extend upwardly at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis 14 of the body for a purpose to be described in detail hereinafter.

The body 12 additionally includes at least one button retaining means generally designated 40, located between the button retaining means 24 and the opposite end 22 of the body. In the embodiments of invention described herein, two button retaining means are provided in space relation along the body 12, each button retaining means including a pair of closely spaced slit lines which set off between them, a web. In the embodiment of FIGURE 2, the slit lines 42 and 44 are parallel to one another, extend substantially perpendicularly to the central axis 14, and set off between them a web of body material designated 46. The length of the slit lines 40 and 42 is substantially equal to the length of the tab 26. The purpose for providing two button retaining means 40, as shown in the illustrated embodiment hereof, is to accommodate garments of differing sizes.

Before describing in detail the manner of operation of the device 10 of the present invention, certain modified forms of the button retaining means 40 and the buttonhole retaining means 24 can be described. In FIGURE 3, the button retaining means 40 is formed by a pair of arcuately curved slit lines 48 and 50 which set off between them, a curved web 52 of a generally concavo-concave configuration looking from the tab 26 toward the end 22 of the body. The center of curvature for the slit line 48 is designated 54 and the center of curvature for the slit line 50 is designated 56. As can be seen from FIGURE 3, each of the centers of curvature is located along the longitudinal axis 14 of the body and both centers of curvature are located on the same side of the web 52.

In FIGURE 4, the button retaining means 40 is formed by a pair of opposed arcuately curved slit lines 58 and 60 which set off between them, a web 62 having a generally concavo-convex configuration, looking in either direction longitudinally of the body. The center of curvature for the slit line 58 is designated 64 and is located to one side of the web 62, while the center of curvature for the slit line 60 is designated 66 and is located to the opposite side of the web 62. It will, however, be seen that the centers of curvature 64 and 66 are both located along the longitudinal axis 14 of the body 12.

It is also possible, if desired, to modify the buttonhole retaining means 24, as shown in FIGURE where a modified tab 26' is illustrated. This tab is hinged to the body 12 at its upper end by means of the score line or hinge line 28 and does extend generally equally above and below the longitudinal axis 14 of the body. However, instead of having generally parallel sides like the tab shown in FIGURE 2, the tab 26 of FIGURE 5 includes a plurality of opposed slit lines extending inwardly from opposite sides thereof. These slit lines which are designated 68 serve to set off a series of separate interconnected longitudinally extending bands 70, 72, 74 and 76. The bands themselves progressively decrease in longitudinal extent with the widest band 70 being located closest to the hinge line 28 and the narrowest band 26 being located at the lower end of the tab. The side edges of the bands 70, 72 and 74 are arcuately rounded as indicated at 78, while the lower end of the lower tab is arcuately rounded as indicated at 80.

Turning attention now to FIGURE 1, there is shown therein a typical coat type garment having overlapping front portions 82 and 84. The front portion 82 carries along the edge thereof, a series of spaced apart buttons generally designated 86 while the opposite front portion 84 carries a plurality of spaced apart buttonholes generally designated 88. While the buttons 86 and buttonholes 88 normally cooperate with one another to maintain the panels 82 and 84 in a slightly overlapping relationship, the garment form retainer of the present invention may be utilized after a garment has been cleaned, pressed or otherwise altered to increase the extent of overlap of these front panels and thereby maintain the garment in proper relationship and hanging smoothly upon a hanger. T o accomplish this, the buttonhole retaining means 24 is inserted through a buttonhole 88 while the button retaining means 40 is cooperatively assembled with a button 86.

To first understand the manner of assembling the button 86 with the button retaining means 40 of the present invention, let attention be directed to FIGURE 6 wherein it can be seen that the button itself is normally attached to the panel 82 by means of thread or other suitable attaching media 90 which centrally connects to the button. The button 86 also normally includes an opposed forward surface 92 and rear surface 94, and, in most instances, the button is circular and includes a peripheral continuous edge portion 96. In assembling the button to the button retaining means, one peripheral edge of the button 96 is inserted through one slit line 42 while the other peripheral edge thereof is inserted through the other slit line 44. This, of course, would be true with the embodiment of FIGURE 2, but exactly the same procedure would be followed with the modified embodiments of FIGURES 3 and 4. As a result of such insertion of the edges of the button, the web 46 is displaced out of the plane of the body 12 and extends across the forward face 92 of the button. Meanwhile, the rearward face 94 of the button is pressed into abutment with the surface of the body 12 and the threads 90 which retain the button extend through the opening caused by displacement of the web 46.

In considering the manner in which the buttonhole retaining means 24 is assembled with the buttonhole 88, it will first be seen from FIGURES 7 and 8 that the buttonhole 88 aligns generally along the longitudinal axis 14 of the body 12. The tab itself is swung outwardly from the plane of the body along the hinge line 28 at the upper end thereof. In the embodiment of FIGURE 2, shown assembled in FIGURE 7, the rounded lower end 34 of the tab is inserted through the buttonhole and is pulled downwardly until the hook portions 36 and 38 pass through the opening of the buttonhole. Due to the upward angular inclination of these hook portions, the same project above the buttonhole slightly, thereby serving to lock the tab within the buttonhole so that the same cannot be inadvertently released.

Considering the modified form of tab 26 shown in FIGURE 5, it will be understood that this form of tab is particularly useful when the buttonhole is of varying size. For example, a buttonhole formed on a womans jacket might be slightly narrower in longitudinal extent than a corresponding buttonhole on a mans jacket. Nevertheless, utilizing a tab arrangement such as that shown at 26', this difference in longitudinal extent of the buttonhles can be readily accommodated. Thus, as shown in FIGURE 8, the tab is inserted through the buttonhole 88 with the band 76 first passing therethrough, followed by the bands 74 and 72. In FIGURE 8, the longitudinal extent of the buttonhole is slightly less than the longitudinal extent of the band 70, so this particular band is not passing through the buttonhole. As a result, the buttonhole is more or less locked between the bands 70 and 72. It will also be understood that the rounded side edges on the bands and the rounded lower edge on the lowest band 76 facilitate insertion of the tab through the buttonhole.

There is also illustrated in FIGURE 8 the modified form of button retaining means as shown in FIGURE 3, but it will be understood and appreciated that the manner of interengagement of the button and button retaining means is exactly the same, regardless of configuration of the particular web.

When the user desires to remove the device 10 so that the coat or jacket can be worn, it is a simple matter to unbutton the button 86 from its engagement with the overlying web thereof, and the tab can be removed from the buttonhole either by passing the same back through the buttonhole or merely by ripping the same from the body.

It will thus be understood from the foregoing that the present invention accomplishes the objectives set forth at the outset of the specification. Accordingly,

What is claimed:

1. A form retainer for a coat garment of the type having overlapping front portions with a least one button hole 011 one Portion and at least one button on the other portion, said retainer comprising an elongated fiat body of yieldable material for insertion between said overlapping front portion of said coat garment, said body having a button hole retaining means positioned adjacent one end thereof, said button hole retaining means comprising a tab integrally connected at its upper end to said body, said tab being insertable within said button hole so that at least the lower portion of said tab extends through said button hole to thereby position said one front portion of said coat garment, said body further including at least one button retaining means formed by a pair of closely spaced slit lines which set off a web therebetween, said web being integrally connected at its upper and lower ends with said body, said web having a relatively narrow width along the longitudinal central axis of said body, said button side edges being insertable through said pair of slit lines so that the rear surface of said button abuts against said body and said web extends centrally across the forward surface of said button to maintain said button in position and hence to properly position said other front portion of said coat garment.

2. A garment form retainer as defined in claim 1 wherein said slit lines extend perpendicularly across the longitudinal central axis of said body.

3. A garment form retainer as defined in claim 1 wherein said slit lines are arcuately curved with the center of curvature for each slit line being disposed along the longitudinal central axis of said body.

4. A garment form retainer as defined in claim 3 wherein the centers of curvature for both slit lines are disposed to the same side of said web.

5. A garment form retainer as defined in claim 3 wherein the centers of curvature for said slit lines are disposed on opposite sides of said web.

6. A form retainer as defined in claim 1 wherein said tab includes a pair of oppositely directed hook portions projecting from opposite sides of said tab.

7. A form retainer as defined in claim 1 wherein said tab includes a plurality of opposed slit lines extending inwardly from opposite sides thereof to set off. a series of interconnected separate longitudinally extending bands of UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1960 Richa et al. 223-71 3,040,940 6/ 1962 Richardson 223-71 3,303,976 2/1967 Scheuer 223-71 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

G. V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner. 

